Brazil’s decriminalisation of gambling: STF urged to check the case

The lawyers in charge of extraordinary appeal 966,177 have asked the Supreme Federal Tribune to approve it as “soon as possible”.

Brazil.- Laerte Luis Gschwenter and Maria Carolina Peres Soares Gschwenter, the lawyers in charge of defending extraordinary appeal 966,177, which would decriminalise gambling in Brazil, have asked the Supreme Federal Tribune (STF) to include it on their agenda as “soon as possible”.

The appeal was scheduled for April 7 but didn’t have time to go through during the session. A date hasn’t been set and for now the appeal has been indefinitely delayed.

Lawyers urged Minister Luiz Fux to “approve the measure in an urgent manner as soon as possible for judgment of merit.”

“The matter involves the analysis of a constitutional relevant subject from an economic, political, social, and legal outlook. In fact, the proposed measure before the STF is, above everything, constitutional since the Criminal Appeal Chamber of Rio Grande do Sul state rejected the regulation of games, basing itself on constitutional precepts related to free initiatives and fundamental freedoms seen in articles 1, IV, 5, XLI y 170 of the Federal Constitution,” they said.

They said that although there wasn’t enough time to discuss the EA, “it is urgent to reschedule its evaluation, due to its relevance from an economic, political, social and legal perspective.”

Angelo Coronel’s opinion

Senator Angelo Coronel is one of the main defendants of gaming. Before the failed April 7 session, he highlighted the importance of a favourable sentence by the STF:

He said: “If the STF sees no infractions going on, it will shorten the road to game legalisation.

“Jogo do bicho, in our land, is culture. There’s no way of it being prohibited, closed or restricted by the police. If it closes today, it will open again tomorrow. Since we all enjoy games, let’s legalise them and add income to it.”